Title page for ETD etd-04172011-223913

Hospice Organizations on the Social Media Scene: Benchmarking the Uses and Strategies of Hospice Organizations on the Internet in 2011

Degree

Master of Mass Communication (M.M.C.)

Department

Mass Communication

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name

Title

Lundy, Lisa

Committee Chair

Dahmen, Nicole

Committee Member

Song, Felicia

Committee Member

Keywords

social media

hospice

relationship management

public relations

Date of Defense

2011-03-31

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

As baby boomers age and the hospice industry grows to meet the demands for care, it is important that these organizations reach their consumers in sensitive and responsible ways. Building caring and mutually beneficial relationships with these consumers is important. Social media can give these organizations the platforms to build and maintain these relationships, but most of the hospice organizations in this qualitative study did not make good use of the opportunities online to relate to their publics. Using public relationships and relationship management measurements, this study monitored the online activity of seven hospice organizations. In general, these organizations under used all available online media. Two hospice organizations, Alive Hospice and Vitas Hospice, most appropriately used the media to interact with their publics online.